Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has rebuked UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman for «discriminating» against Albanian migrants by singling them out as the cause of «failures in British migration policies».
«Pointing to Albanians as the cause of UK crime and border problems is easy rhetoric but ignores hard facts. Repeating the same things and expecting different results is madness,» Rama noted on his Twitter profile.
The head of the Albanian government has thus responded to the statements of Braverman, who earlier this week spoke of tightening immigration measures so that adult foreigners do not pose as unaccompanied minors, a strategy that, he says, is common among asylum seekers from Albania.
«This year has seen an increase in the number of Albanian arrivals, many of them, I’m afraid to say, abusing our laws (…) We are working to ensure that the cases of Albanians are processed and that people are removed as quickly as possible,» Braverman said Monday.
In response, Rama has stressed that «Albanians in the UK work hard and pay taxes,» urging London to review its fight against criminal gangs «of all nationalities» and «stop discriminating against Albanians to excuse the failures of its policies.»
«Albania is a NATO country and is negotiating EU membership. It is also a safe country of origin. When Germany had a similar problem, it tightened its own systems. UK can and should do the same, not respond with a rhetoric of crime that ends up punishing innocents,» he has said.
Finally, Rama recognized that «Albania is not a rich country» and that it must confront organized crime within its borders, which requires close cooperation with foreign nations. Thus, he acknowledged his willingness to collaborate with London because «the facts are crucial», but so is «mutual respect».
With these declarations, Braverman has entered fully into a new controversy on migratory issues barely a month after he assured in early October that his «dream» and «obsession» was to see how a plane deported to Rwanda those seeking asylum in the United Kingdom.
